NBD - sort of

Hello everyone, this has been a project of sorts. It is a Squier vintage modified P Bass that I wanted to get and mod further! Keeping in mind that if purchased new it would have been approx $279, I bought this used on CL for $150. Then put in a Bill Lawrence/Wilde P-46 pickup for ap prox $60 , replaced witj CTS pots and orange drop capacitor. Also tru oiled the neck! Today was the finished product. It is great!

Thanks! I just lightly sanded with scotch brite on the majority of the neck, and used a 220 sanding block on the headstock to strip the logo and stuff. I won't lie, the tru oil process was a little difficult to get right. Others have said that it was easy to work with, and I wish I was as lucky (or perhaps as skilled) as them. In the end, it turned out great. The birchwood gun stock wax really brought it to life after the tru oil coats were done.

I just ordered my first "P" (a Squier VMP-amber), and then read the long thread about the Bill Lawrence P46 pickup here on TB.

That thread charged me up enough to order a P46 before I even got my "P"! I figured that I would kick myself if this living legend of the pickup world (who is already in frail health) passed away before I could experience what so many TBers believe to be the best pickup for a "P".

I really like the P-46. I havent gigged it yet, just heard it in a bedroom setting. I am mostly a j bass guy, and when I began this p bass quest, I had to find what kind of p bass sounds I liked. I did lots of youtube searches. At an initial listen, this P-46 seems to have what i was looking for. The P-46 reviews are pretty accurate on TB. Its thick, and seems to have the "right" lows. Hard to explain. I think a gig test will be the real test. I will get back to you after that. Thanks everyone for the kind words.

No, originals werent necessarily bad, I just wanted to be sure that all electrical components were quality, as well as have fun with a soldering experience.

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Well, God bless you for finding fulfillment in doing precise soldering and I hope you twisted your wires, then.

But (given the same values) "quality" here is mostly imaginary in this application, and completely imaginary as far as the cap goes.

CTS Pots and Orange drop, with wiring: approx. $20

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Well, fun's fun, but I would have gotten more laffs for $20 spent otherwise.

Not to rag on you, but I see so much stoner magic falsely attributed to this very same "upgrade" on guitar forums that it'd be a shame to see it take root here.

If you really want to do something worthwhile for your controls while you have that cavity open, scrupulously clean out every trace of polishing compound and other manufacturing debris, to surgical standards. That ultra-fine abrasive vibrates back into almost invisible dust and gets into the open pots (quality or not) and drastically shortens their noise-free life. It's astonishing how much of this crap there is crumbling away inside the typical import and how quickly it can crud-up the wafer/wiper in a pot.

Thanks for the advice on cleaning the cavity, those are some really good points that I hadnt really thought about.

As far as the pots and cap go, I never really meant to imply that the pots and cap replacement were factors in tone improvement. The pickup was a noticable change, that was an improvement to my ears. I guess for me it was worth $20 to be totally sure that everything was right, even if the pots, cap, wire, and jack replacement were all in vain.